Age of Earthquakes Written Response

The most prominent feature, also the most frustrating, throughout the text was the extreme amount of blank space and paper used. Ironically enough, as I understood the message of the book, I was at the same time wishing it had been published ONLINE only in order to not waste so many materials. In this sense, I highly disagreed with the format the book presented. Although the idea that the internet is consuming our lives is a very valid one that deserves to be looked at seriously, I do not think the way to do it is to a) waste precious and finite resources on the planet to print almost 300 pages of a few words in large text and b) in a format that specifically adheres to and makes fun of the way we view things on the internet. The choppy way in which the text is constructed, although obviously a reference and copy of the way things are viewed on the internet, is rather pointless. Why read a book formatted like the web, when it can actually be read on the web instead? Aside from the internet, the book doesn’t seem to care much about other contemporary issues. At the beginning, it briefly references melting ice caps and earthquakes to loosely relate the title to something important, but then fails to make these things a continuous issue... and instead goes on to contribute to environmental issues by printing pages and pages of text rather than really honing in on how much we are absorbed by the internet. I agree with the message the authors were attempting-we spend far too much time in technology. However, I also believe that the way in which the book was written and published makes it a complete failure in every other sense.

Word count: 298